Kadra Ahmed Omar

Good Afternoon! How are you? I hope that you are doing well on this Sunday afternoon. As you can see, I have another inspirational person to blog about. Do you recognize the name on today’s blog post? If you do not, I will tell you who she is.

Kadra Ahmed Omar is a Somali-Ethiopian African model who was well known for her big curly bushy hair, full lips and wide smile. As a model, Kadra spoke out about the pressures of being a Black model in the modeling industry. Black meaning both African and African American. Kadra was pressured many times to straighten her hair because she was told it was more “acceptable” and not only that, it would make her look beautiful. For those of you who followed her career, there were very few ads where Kadra straightened her hair.

Kadra was raised (thankfully) that her curly Afro textured hair was beautiful, that she was beautiful and that as a Black woman you do not have to wear your hair straight to look beautiful. Let me be very clear, I am not saying that people who have straight hair are not beautiful. What I am saying and the many other women like Kadra who echo the same sentiment is that a Black woman does not have to straighten her hair to be beautiful. If you want to straighten your hair, do it because YOU want to do it and not because society says that you as a Black woman can only be beautiful unless you wear your hair straight.

Kadra and her lush Afro textured hair is a standout like herself and I appreciated how she says she loves her hair and everything about it. When asked if there was anything she would change about her outward appearance including her hair, she said ‘No’.

Love yourself and everything about YOU that makes you YOU. Never base your beauty off of what society says is beautiful or attractive. If you see yourself as beautiful then you are because in the end, that is all that really matters.